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Elise Amendola / AP
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman speaks and shakes hands after a town hall in Pelham, N.H., Wednesday.
PELHAM N.H. -- On his first day back on the trail since Christmas, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman stepped far beyond the boundaries of his usually polite stump speech to repeatedly slam Ron Paul as "unelectable" because of "out there" views on foreign policy. Huntsman is the latest candidate to join an intensifying Republican crescendo of criticism of the Texas Congressman as the Iowa caucuses approach.
"He is not electable at the end of the day. Let's be real about it," Huntsman told more than 150 voters at a town hall meeting in southern New Hampshire. "I'm not an isolationist. I don't share the Ron Paul world view. I am a realist."
Paul currently commands a strong second place position in the lead up to the January 3 Iowa contest.
Huntsman dubbed Paul's positions on Iran and American military presence overseas as "out there enough" to be harmful to U.S. national security. With issues like Iran "on the ascent," Huntsman warned Iran would become the "transcendent foreign policy challenge of the decade."
Huntsman didn't stop there. "Things like legalizing drugs -- I just don't think this is a position that is going to sell well," Huntsman told reporters on Wednesday night. "I just don't think he's going to get enough mainstream support to win."
'Make the math work'
When asked by NBC News, Huntsman declined to say whether he would support Paul if he does indeed become GOP nominee, bristling at a hypothetical scenario. Front-runner Mitt Romney has committed to voting for Paul if the latter becomes the Republican party's choice. Gingrich has declared he would not support Paul over disagreement on foreign and domestic policies.
"I'm just making a case for electability," Huntsman said. "You know at the end of the day we've just got to win back some people who actually voted for Barack Obama, just to make the math work. So who at the end of the day is the most electable? I believe I'm the most electable candidate in the race right now."
However, current polls indicate Huntsman has a long uphill battle to win in New Hampshire. He placed a distant fourth place here, the state in which he has centered his campaign efforts. According to a poll by CNN and Time magazine published Wednesday, the former ambassador to China sits at 9 percent of likely Republican support while Romney leads with 44 percent, followed by Paul at 17 percent and Gingrich with 16 percent in the Granite State.
Huntsman -- who until Wednesday night rarely disagreed with his GOP opponents by name -- added that the recently-discovered controversial newsletters published under Paul's name in the 1990s also undercut his legitimacy as a candidate.
"You gotta own up to that history and ultimately he is going to have to explain that to the American people if he wants to get enough support to be a legitimate player," said Huntsman.
Paul recently responded to the newsletters, saying that he was not aware of the content at the time and disavowed the remarks inside his namesake publication.
When asked if Paul's explanation was adequate, Huntsman replied, "Not so far."
Huntsman's long game was also questioned tonight as he kicked off a packed campaign schedule that leads up to January 10 primary. When a voter asked Huntsman about his failure to collect enough signatures to appear on the Virginia primary ballot, he brushed it off.
"I'm not too bothered about that," Huntsman said. "Our philosophy has always been, if we come out of New Hampshire with a head of steam, we're going to well in South Carolina, we're going to do well in Florida, in which case you're going to get the early delegate states who are going to want to be with the most electable candidate."
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Ron Paul, his own words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X554O6TwiYM
The amazing part is that in 1998 when this video was made, many people thought that he was full of crap and paranoid the UN was a good thing. Since that time, alot of what Ron Paul said was happening then, has happened and is still in progress.
He was against it then and he is against it now because the UN has no respect for our Constitution and expects our leaders to disregard it "for the greater good." Our leaders, like our current President, who seem to have no respect for our Constitution nor the working citizens, are a disgrace to what this Nation was founded on and is supposed to stand for.
He might b e right because the American people will never elect a REAL PERSON to higher office. The voting public is mostly made up of those who say they are believers in what this country stands for, but that isn't who they really are. The most extreme leftists and right-wingers are the ones who vote and are most active. Then there are those slightly less extreme who vote because they want to follow others who seem to echo their sentiments and then their are those who vote because they believe in the process. Ron Paul seems to be a real person who is stuck in a quagmire of rhetoric by both extremes and himself part of one of them, he has isolated himself as a regular person without any organization of substance, and that's what people want. They want to follow someone that follows what they know and trust and they see others following. New ideas in this country don't fly because people frightened of new thing. Our nation is made of people educated to be laborers not thinkers. We are intelligent, but our schooling wasn't meant to make us think critically and logically, it created emotionally charged, patriotic minded soldiers to maintain a socioeconomic politic that would sustain the existing party system indefinitely. IF Ron Paul were elected, he might be an awful president, but then again, he might be great because he would bring a new way/old way of thinking to our consciousnesses. That frightens the extreme left and right.
At 64 years old I remember well when everything we bought at any store was made in America. I think we are due for some controlled isolationism and take care of our Country first, everybody else second.
Ha-Ha! You may remember when the things you bought were made in America, but you seem to have forgotten what isolationism means.
You are 64, get over the fact that the world has changed. Old people have a hard time changing (Im 45), my Dad (78) has changed to understand that there is no such thing truely as isolation. You will fail if you isolate.
Its a global village, Brick and Morter local shops are DONE, Online shopping for EVERYTHING, large distribution centers are 100% the future ...... We can ship from anywhere.. GET US TO IT!!!
Instead of thinking about business in B**M F**K Kansas (or any sad place) think about silly to the billions of people around the world over the internet. Find an Idea and sell it!!! btw, I do that for a living, the more I do the less local stores exist....bahbahbahbah :)
Outsider... I take offense to your Bum F**k Kansas. I don't care for the conservative elections in our state but you sir are an a**hole.
Ron Paul is the only candidate that has some views that will help bring back this country. I am an independent Democratic leaning moderate. I will vote for Ron Paul.
SANTORUM!!!!!
Yeah baby.
Obama can use a flat earther to run against.
Huntsman is exactly RIGHT, Ron Paul is a dottering, old Kook with insane ideas that will get major US cities blown to kingdom come. Have to wonder about the people in Iowa putting Paul in the top level...out of touch with reality. The end of days has to come, Paul can surely help that to happen.
Bottom line, anyone that voted for the NDAA bill is against freedom and the liberties afforded to us all by our constitution and is not someone that we should want as our president or representative. In fact those people shouldn't be allowed to continue their political careers. They wrap these things in disguises of offering protection and convince people that they need that protection and that its worth giving up our freedoms. If you haven't seen it, all of you that read this need to watch the documentary Loose Change.
All Republicans are unelectable. (Or at least they're trying to be).
Michele Bachmann chair defects to Ron Paul
He's getting more and more support because he speaks the truth. We talk about how compromise is needed and while that is true it must be done in an honest and open fashion else it turn into lies and cover-ups. I think what Jason meant is that compromising our integrity is how we got to where we are now.
The better Ron Paul does the more loudly the establishment puppets scream he is unelectable. They hope saying it enough will brain wash voters. Why? Because they fear the inevitable power shift that will come when a constitutionalists is in the oval office. There are hundreds of billions of reasons why corrupt politicians, bankers and fascists do not want Ron Paul in office. Take some time and do your own research before you let the talking heads dictate your beliefs.
Who is huntsman?
Lol, good question George! Huntsman is a republican presidential candidate who ISN'T a flippin' CLOWN. No wonder he gets no traction from the idotic righties, they want someone they can relate to, a fool.
A registered Dem, I voted Obama because I wanted "change" from the previous corrupt administration. All Obama did was extend all of W Bush's policies, including Patriot and TSA.
Electable or not, I am voting RON PAUL 2012!
So your solution is to vote for the same people who caused the economic crisis we find ourselves in now and have continuously stymied any efforts to help the average American?
Good Luck with that. You will need it.
Forget the media, look at Ron Pauls record compared to all of the others.
The issue isn't abortion, education, marriage, or how lovely a candiates wife/family looks. The issue is the Constitution, our freedoms, and getting the hell out of other countries so that we can focus on our own issues. Once these have been addressed, everything will fall into place.
The way both parties have treated our Constitution (Bush - "Just a g**damn piece of paper") and continuing to limit our freedoms, we will end up exactly the way Bin Laden had hoped.
What other candidate besides Ron Paul has VOWED to eliminate Patriot and TSA, and to restore what our founding fathers have intended? Life wasn't so bad for me growing up, but now I wake each and every day wondering what other rights will be stripped from us while the politicians side track us via the equally corrupt media.
Proud,
You are exactly right... I fear what the world will look like when my son grows up. Will he be able to express himself freely? Or will he be labeled a terrorist for speaking his mind?
The government needs to stay out of our lives unless we're doing something to deliberately harm another...
All these republican runners are staying around long enough to get the matching funds and then will give it to whoever wins the nomination!!!!
Absolutely right.
When it comes to the Repugnantican party it always comes down to the money. Mostly lobbyist money, but they will steal it from wherever they can. The entire party is comprised of common criminals in 3-piece suits.
I will proudly vote none of the above!
He's correct ...is there really anyone seriously disputing this? Ron Paul will not be the President no matter how many loyal supporters he has - he does not and will not have the votes to capture his party's nomination and if he goes independent he hands the President a second term.
whoever calls someone else 'unelectable' is unelectable!
what an irony!
This whole election thing has become a fiasco. Think about it, when did all this campaigning start anyway? Almost immediateley after obama was innaugerated. It's almost shamefull what's happening in America these days. Make no mistake, I'm a conservative and I say none of those in contention are electable. What the hell is wrong with the Republican party anyway? In 2008 we had Mccain, what a mistake. Now the Republicans are on track to repeat that disaster. I'm sure obama's herd of sheep are sitting back and really enjoying this show. Just think, if the walking turd gets re-elected we can do this all over again for 2016, only then it will be doubly disasterous.
NEWSFLASH: The entire organized crime family otherwise known as the Republican party is unelectable. They are nothing more than thieves dressed in expensive suits who will say and do anything to get elected. Except for doing anything to help the average American that is.
sshhhhh....you're not suppose to say that, yet. Remember? They're not suppose to be told until November.
how can we have a President "OBAMA" who would rather take one of our states Arizona and i do believe he has added more states that this knuckel head is sueing our States over ILLEGAL IMAGRANTS. What does he not understand Illegal is Illegal MR President isnt this Treason. i'm sorry but enough is enough you should see how many are flooding our jails THANKS MR. President for stealing our money and doing what you want to help every other country but our own. People need to wake the hell up, we the people not the government.
You are dumb if you believe that spin. Arizona did passed a STUPID law. Get over the "Illegal" Idea anyways. Its the dumbest POV some americans have who can not get a job themselves. Those "Illegals" Pay taxes and work at jobs NO ONE ELSE WANTS PERIOD!!!!!!
uh, they don't pay taxes, and collect entitlements. Get a clue.
Ron Paul = Hobbit.
I can not believe people actually can see a short, wimpy, old guy as the leader of the free world. Heck Paul does not even think he needs to know about the free world. The responsibilities are larger then he can EVER be.
The Hobbit or Ross Perot doppelganger just not stand a chance what I can not believe is that people are too stupid to understand this.
YEA!!! ron paul as the independent canidate!!! I am going to cross over and vote for him in the primary!!!
already done that,just sitting here waiting for my new registration card to come in the mail.I am sure this will make all my repub family members love me again.
Obammy and the Demorats will say and do anything!, so they DO NOT have to run against Newt Gingrich.. Newt is still the only Adult Running for President!...The Washington GOP crowd wants Mitt to win!... Have you ever took a good look at him... All he does is smile and Agree with everyone!, He is a BIG YES MAN!, Thats what The Washington Crowd WANTS is a YES MAN!... The only way this country moves forward in a meaningful way is to REVERSE EVERYTHING that Obammy has DONE!... Obammy might be smart on PAPER!, But Thats about IT!... NEWT GINGRICH IN 2012!...
WTF??? Are you 12??? Do you not realize that Newt has more allegations and sanctions against him then any other political figure in politics today??? You may not have an once of integrity or you may not have the education level to read a little about Newt' history but he is far from a MAN....pilsbury doe boys do not count as MEN anyways.
Obama has done more then your education level/pay grade understands maybe you should just sit back in your trailer and let the big boys run everything.
Obama would wipe the floor with Newt one of them is extremely well educated and the other just convinces dumb republican types that he is.
Newt is exactly what we need.
We don't have enough politicians who leave their cancer stricken wives and work for organizations catering to lobbyist groups.
We need more role models just like the Newt for our kids to learn all about greed and corruption.
There you go; vote for a guy who said poor kids should act as the school janitors to pay for their education and there should be no minimum wage (paraphrased because I do not remember the exact wording) on television only two weeks ago. That is the type of person who cares about Americans. ... ... Please!
I like some of Dr. Paul's ideas. That said, he is unelectable simply because if half of his itenerary is passed the unemployment rate would skyrocket to 50%. Who is the biggest employer in the country?
You got it. The U.S. Government. Do away with all the agencies Paul wants to get rid of, and half the country is on the unemployment line. What does that do to the economy? Besides he wants to do away with social security and medicare, not to mention minumum wage. We would see another 1930's right before your eyes. If Obama is to be beaten it will have to be a moderate republican. The only two in the race that fit that bill are Romney and Huntsman. Either of those would get my vote in a general election. Other than that, I would have to give Obummer a second term, only by default.
You hit a point that gets overlooked constantly. Private sector job growth has been improving at a servicable rate over the past year. Of course we can do better but we can always do better. The "stagnant" job growth rate is because government jobs are being cut. What people always forget when they talk about cutting government agencies and decreasing the government workforce is that the people who get left out in the cold are regular, every day working people. Not only is the U.S. Government the largest employer in the country, but go to most small towns throughout the country and you'll find that local government is a significant employer there as well. If we cut all these government jobs at once, will private businesses suddenly create that many more jobs?
so someone who defends the constitution and is for personal responsibility and personal liberty is unelectable? please tell me exactly what people want of a leader? and his voting record of 12 terms follow his belief in the constitution.
O too backed the sharp increase in defense spending- it seems his bread is buttered w/lobbists also- 3rd party is needed- Federalists- O has no accomplishments that is why he is bashing the rich- you should become losers dependant on the gov't like the rest of us- vote for me and we will succeed- why only 52% of households revieve a gov't check we can make it 99%- that way the 1% can still work and pay for our programs
Remember Ron Paul = Hobbit......are people blind to this problem???
The supreme kangaroo court or the electoral college will decide who will be the figure head of this hideous dictatorship.